The Happiest Place on Earth is going Solar

Walt Disney World has recently started a new initiative in collaboration with the Reedy Creek Improvement District and solar project developer Origis Energy USA to bring a new, 270-acre, 50-megawatt solar facility online by the end of 2018.

This solar facility will generate enough renewable clean energy to power two of the four theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort. The facility will include half a million solar panels, and will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 57,000 tons per year, the equivalent of removing 9,300 cars from the roads.

This initiative will join the many other efforts that The Walt Disney Company has launched to accomplish its 2020 goal of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent in comparison to 2012.

The new facility will be located near Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and construction is set to begin in the next few months. Origis Energy delivered the first of many solar panels to come as part of the project just last week.

Walt Disney World recently unveiled a five-megawatt solar facility near Epcot that was developed with the Reedy Creek Improvement District and Duke Energy. During the hours when the sun is shining at its brightest, these two facilities together will generate enough clean energy to provide up to 25 percent of the power needs at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Cast Members from Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment and Horticulture teams will help and explore ways to make this new solar facility pollinator friendly with wildflowers and vegetation, in order to create a safe habitat for bees, butterflies and other insects, including endangered and at-risk species.